Author: Lim Yu Qian, Coingecko; Compiled by: Wu Zhu, Golden Finance

What are the largest increases in cryptocurrencies in 2024?

Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) is the asset with the largest increase in cryptocurrency in 2024, achieving the highest price return among large-cap cryptocurrencies at 23,079.2%. The price of $VIRTUAL at the beginning of the year was $0.01311, mostly hovering below $0.20, then skyrocketing to $3.04 by December 25. With the launch of Virtuals Protocol's AI agent platform gaining traction among cryptocurrency investors, the price saw a strong increase.

In other words, if cryptocurrency investors had purchased $VIRTUAL worth $100 on January 1 and held it for the year, they would have been able to sell it on Christmas Day for a profit of $23,079.

The cryptocurrency with the second highest increase in 2024 is Brett (BRETT), whose token issue price surged from $0.0009766 on February 29 to $0.145 on December 25, an increase of 14,784.6%. The highest point on December 1 was $0.234. Brett's significant price gains make it the only meme token on the Base chain to reach a market capitalization of $1 billion so far.

The third most profitable cryptocurrency is also a meme coin called Popcat (POPCAT), whose price rose from $0.007640 on January 1 to $0.8067 on December 25, an increase of 10,459.0%. Although Popcat launched at the end of last year and became a leading contender in the narrative of Solana meme coins, its price only began to reach new highs in March this year. Popcat was the first cat meme coin to reach a market capitalization of $1 billion on September 27 and maintained it for several months before its market cap shrank again.

Overall, among the top 10 cryptocurrency increases this year, 7 are meme coins. Besides Brett and Popcat, other meme coins with top increases include: Mog Coin (MOG), which grew by 6,051.0%; AI-generated Frog Meme Coin Turbo (TURBO) with a return rate of 3,036.0%; and the recent FARTCOIN and AI agent investment fund AI16Z (AI16Z), which have risen by 2,890.5% and 1,409.9% respectively; Pepe (PEPE) outperformed the mid-2023 meme coin frenzy with an increase of 1,400.6%, solidifying its position as one of the largest meme coins.

Record increases of meme coins $OM and $AERO mid-year

MANTRA (OM) ranks fourth in the 2024 cryptocurrency increase list dominated by meme coins. The return rate of $OM is 6,418.3%, with its price rising from $0.0584 on January 1 to $3.81 on December 25. This makes MANTRA the most profitable RWA investment of the year, nine times that of Ondo Finance (ONDO), which is the second most profitable RWA game with a return rate of 682.8%.

Meanwhile, Aerodrome Finance (AERO) ranks sixth among the tokens with the largest increase in cryptocurrency in 2024, with a return rate of 3,139.4%, rising from a token price of $0.0511 on January 1 to $1.66 in December, driving the development of the ecosystem.

Stable returns of Bitcoin and poor performance of Ethereum

Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a 133.8% increase in 2024, with its price steadily rising from $42,208 on January 1 to $98,696 in December, continuing to set new historical highs. Bitcoin ranked 39th among the 123 large-cap cryptocurrencies analyzed, outperforming the remaining 84 cryptocurrencies. This means, like last year, the chance of randomly selecting a cryptocurrency from this list to outperform Bitcoin’s growth in 2024 is about one in three.

On the other hand, Ethereum (ETH) has a lower return rate of 53.4% in 2024, with its price rising from $2,280 on January 1 to $3,498 on December 25. This is almost half of the 98.6% return Ethereum achieved in 2023. The price maintained a range throughout the year, briefly testing the $4,000 level a few times but failing to surpass the peak of 2021.

As of December 25, the return rates of the top 10 cryptocurrencies range from 1,400.6% to 23,079.2%. Holding any of these cryptocurrencies this year would have outperformed Bitcoin by at least 10 times and Ethereum by 26 times.

Top cryptocurrencies of 2024

In 2024, the top 20 most profitable cryptocurrencies ranked by price increase, along with Bitcoin and Ethereum, are:

Top cryptocurrencies of 2023

The returns of Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2023, along with the other top ten cryptocurrencies, are as follows: